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As most of you know, Gitterbug (an accomplished jazz guitarist, long time active JGO member, and the inventor & builder of Toob speakers) and I became friends through our interaction on this forum. I have absolutely no connection with Toob other than having been named by G'bug as a "Toob Ambassador" after evaluating and using them on many gigs. So I've been helping him by evaluating his new ideas and providing my honest feedback, whether positive or negative. I've had a fair amount of "constructive criticism" because I certainly haven't liked everything about every model I've tried. He's been gracious about hearing it all and has made changes in response.
I now have one of the new 8" Metros, which use the same cabinets as the Metro 6.5s except with a few mm more depth and a few ounces more weight. They currently have Jensen Falcon 8 drivers in them, which make some very full bass with a seamed cone, a ferrite magnet, and a 30W power handling capability. The Metro 8's low bass is a tiny bit looser than the Metro BG+, but it's far from flabby and stays clean going a bit further down. The Falcon 8's response curve on an IEC infinite baffle is about 7 dB down at 70 Hz, and it has a gentle broad 3 to 4 dB rise between 100 and 300 Hz over the mean SPL between 100 Hz and 4kHz. In the Toob enclosure (which has 4 damped vents in the back that do a great job of smoothing the low end), the Falcon does a remarkable job of preserving the character of the guitar's lowest notes. Of course, the lowest note on a 6 string guitar is "only" 82.4 Hz. But as you'll hear in the clip below, the 8 does a remarkable job with the low A on a 7 string, and there's great clarity of the notes in chords using the bottom strings.
Here's the Metro 8 next to an original 6.5" Metro BG+ for size comparison. Those orange spacers fill the slight gap between the ends of the speaker/grille retaining ring halves. As you can see, the overall OD of the grille surround is only a few mm larger than the 6.5's. There's no noticeable difference in size or weight.
The 30W "limit" hasn't been a problem, in large part because the driver is about 6 dB more sensitive than the SICAs in Metro 6.5s and is audibly louder than the Metro BG+ with the same guitar and amplifier settings. I've used it on blues gigs driven by my D V Mark EG250 whose 125 W output had Gitterbug a bit on edge. I kept the volume in check and it was fine - but in truth, we rarely use more than 10W in most performances of any kind in small clubs and I heard absolutely no signs of distress. I don't use hard distortion effects, which really boost output because of the spectral splashes from sharp waveform transitions like sawtooth, triangle, and square waves. It sounded great with my Smokin' Amp Company Zensation, which is a smooth low drive pedal like a Zen. Between its increased efficiency and tonal characteristics, I think the Metro 8 is better suited for blues, rock, and similar genres than the 6.5" Metros I've tried while still being a great jazz speaker cab. I also used the 8 with a Quilter Microblock, which turned out to be a very gigworthy combo. And it's probably the best light, portable cabinet of all for a SBUS because that pairing covers such a wide variety of tones.
But the real joy came with my laminated Ibanez AF207 archtop (Benedetto B7 pickup, heavy Benson TIs + a 75 Chrome 7th) through the EG250. I was practicing with this setup, and it sounded so good to me that I decided to record my noodling on No Moon at All (which is one of my favorite tunes). I'll leave you with this track, which starts with a solo intro before the backing track comes in. It was recorded using my TASCAM DR-40x as a DAI with its crossed cardioids 1 cm in front of the grille and slightly offset from the center. There is no processing at all, and the only effect is the amp's light reverb. You can hear the power of the 7 string bottom end, the round mellow tone across the frequency spectrum, and the way the speaker adds a bit of wood to a heavy laminated box with a thick top. On a lark, I decided to toss in a little double lead on a few phrases, to show the smooth clarity and sparkle of the high end and the lack of harshness. See what you think and please express yourselves freely. You don't have to like it just because I do, and Gitterbug will be able to use your feedback to further improve his product.
Last edited by nevershouldhavesoldit; 11-06-2024 at 04:02 PM. Reason: typo
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11-06-2024 12:57 PM
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I don’t like the recording…I love it!
That’s all.
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Very good sound and playing!!!
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"even Fido is afraid to bark..."
that's an old largely forgotten tune, though recently has gained some traction among the hip younger crowd.
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Originally Posted by wintermoon
I've always loved the tune, and there are so many great versions of it - Ella, Julie, Jonah Jones, Nat Cole, Kai & JJ, Kenton, Urbie Green etc. I think my favorite is Herb Ellis with Previn, Manne and Brown:
I really love Stacey Kent's take on it too (with Roberto Menescal on guitar) -
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That sounds fabulous, Nevershould.
I also have both the Metro 6.5 and the 8, and I also find the 8 enhances the low end.
When I bought my EG250 (largely because of Nevershould and others singing its praises), I already had the Metro 8 and had tried it with my SBUS. But when I hooked up the Raw Dog to it, I was in heaven. The sound of it made me want to play Moon River, a tune I had never played before but have heard so often it was easy to figure out. I won't post a recording of it here because it pales in comparison to No Moon At All, and because that recording demonstrates the low end so much better than mine.
I also found that the EG250 will power both Metros at the same time, something I can not imagine ever needing, but which is still cool.
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What can I say beyond expressing my thanks to Nevershouldhavesoldit for such a thorough and positive review of one of my products? A Toob Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary indeed. Oh yes, I'm far from an accomplished jazz guitarist; rather, a Forrest Gump type who happened to stumble on a leftover piece of corrugated plastic pipe back in 2007...
Ideally, I would like to seat a 8" speaker into 250 mm pipe, which is the next standard size up from 200 mm. Tooling for matching injection-molded clamping rims and stamped metal grills would call for another €€€€ investment which, at soon 78, I'm not ready to foot. 3D printed rims and cloth grills are doable but in small quantities only.
My volumes (100-150 cabs per year) and (too) broad model range do not support speaker purchases direct from manufacturers. I have a very good relationship with the Finnish importer of SICA/Jensen products. We weren't certain about the Falcon 8, so the first order was cautious and there's nothing left. Hence, we'll have to hold our horses until the next speaker shipment arrives late this year or early next.
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How wonderful!
To be of some help to Gitterbug's admirable work I tried to find some criticism of the sound, but I can't find any! Smooth, full, balanced tone.
And how good you are Never! Bravo!
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Originally Posted by StefanoGhirardo
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Originally Posted by Ukena
It works even at very low volumes and really makes the 7 string into George Van Eps’s lap piano for solo gigs like restaurants. The EG250 is probably overkill, but that little tube front end just sounds so good to me at any volume.
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Originally Posted by nevershouldhavesoldit
The first recording I heard was Doris Day, then Robert Goulet believe it or not.
But it's also on this Flo Handy record I bought a long time ago w a couple competent guitarists
Full disclosure, I bought it for the competent guitarists.
Sorry, back to your regularly scheduled Toob review.....
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Originally Posted by wintermoon
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Originally Posted by nevershouldhavesoldit
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I wonder how the Toobs speakers perform at concerts with a drummer?
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Originally Posted by kris
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Originally Posted by kris
I take it the canned part of what we're hearing is also played over the Toob?
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Originally Posted by RJVB
I’m not sure what you mean by “canned”. My guitar was recorded live through the EG250/Toob combo. I already had a backing track, so I played my guitar through the Toob while monitoring the backing track through headphones. For the brief 2 guitar harmony phrases (an experiment I just felt like trying), I played the second guitar lines into an additional track. Then I mixed the guitar parts and the backing track into a stereo master.
None of the backing band was played back through the Toob.
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Originally Posted by nevershouldhavesoldit;1372170I’m not sure what you mean by “canned”. [...
Was I naive thinking that the backing track would sound as good when recorded off the Toob?
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Originally Posted by RJVB
Just plug your audio source into your guitar amplifier and compare the sound quaity to the same source through your home audio system. There's no comparison. If you use a powered full range speaker system driven by a modeling front end, the powered speaker will do audio much better than a guitar amp.
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Originally Posted by nevershouldhavesoldit
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Originally Posted by RJVB
From the time stereo records became generally available (1959) until I graduated from college, at least one channel of my stereo system was my guitar amplifier. I learned a lot of music that way, and I was used to the sound of live music - so I accepted the compromises of a guitar amplifier as a sound system. But when I finally got a real audio system with matching speakers, I discovered how wonderful good sound was at home.
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Originally Posted by kris
Just for kicks (and despite having a backline with a VIbrolux, a CS Princeton, and a Jazz 12), I tried the Metro 8 and EG250 combo with my long time blues band (The Philly Blues Kings). We're two guitars, tenor, amplified harmonica, bass and drums. The 8 kept up with the rest of the band as well as the Vibrolux does. This was the gig that upset Gitterbug when he heard I'd used a 125W head into the 8. But it was an easy task for the amp & speaker - I never turned the amp volume up past about 11 o'clock and the guitar volume pot past about 3/4 up.
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Here's the Metro 8 recorded acoustically, with a vocal as well. This is Triggs New Yorker –> DV Mark EG250 –> TOOB Metro 8 –> Tula mic, then the wav recording was transferred to my computer and thence to Soundcloud:
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Originally Posted by Ukena
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Originally Posted by nevershouldhavesoldit
Originally Posted by Ukena
Jam Session Journal (October 2024 + Performance...
Today, 12:34 AM in From The Bandstand